When I was growing up, in a far away time of yore, life seemed much simpler to me then as it does all children. I was born in the late 1970’s and there were no such things as cable and channels dedicated to particular theme like say, ESPN or AMC. Back then the only comic book superhero movies of any noteworthiness were the Adam West Batman, Reb Brown’s Captain America (only for its extreme campiness), and of course Christopher Reeve’s Superman.
While growing up I wanted to be Superman, what kid didn’t. He was super fast, super strong, he couldn’t be killed. He overcame all obstacles and he never lied, cheated, or stole to do it. He was the ideal in which my young self aspired to.
But so much more than that the Christopher Reeve Superman movies got to me in ways that only a handful of movies I have watched since have. The way the movie was shot is a masterpiece of different techniques. Nowadays, it’s easy to go back and pick out what technique was used for what shot, but then again these movies are 20-30 years old.
So, after six or seven years since the last Superman movie, (and no I did not hate Brandon Routh’s Superman Returns) I was just as excited as everybody else to go see a brand new Superman movie. Especially, as it was being produced by Christopher Nolan of the Batman Begins trilogy and directed by Zack Snyder of 300 fame.
However, when I left the movie theater I was filled with a deep and penetrating sadness. My wife couldn’t understand and I had a really hard time explaining why this movie upset me so much. It’s not that the movie was bad, let’s get that out of the way right now. I did NOT hate the movie. There a lot of things to like about it. Henry Cavill was very good as Superman, a very worthy successor to Christopher Reeve. Amy Adams was a great Lois Lane. I even liked that Lois now knows who Clark is. I liked Laurence Fishburne’s Perry White. The story itself was an OK, (if unnecessary) reboot of what we already know. The restatement of how Kal-El’s cellular structure allows him to absorb energy and power from the sun was properly scientific sounding.
But, as a whole the movie fell flat for me. First off was the camera work. This whole movie was filmed with ONE steady-cam camera. You know the technique and camera that Steven Spielberg used for the storming of the beach at Normandy scene and many others in Saving Private Ryan? That thing that makes the WHOLE screen shake and move to simulate running to immerse the audience? I have always hated steady cam. My eyes don’t shake and move when I’m running. Ask any runner if the whole world becomes blurry and unfocused when they run, they’ll tell you it doesn’t, try it for yourself sometime.
The whole idea that this immerses audiences in the scene and the movie has always been a detestable defense for this technique. In Saving Private Ryan it worked, and I appreciated it, but it has since been overused and it’s tired now. For some reason Zack Snyder now decides that this is the way to film a comic book superhero movie. Zack Snyder the guy who brought us 300, The Watchmen, and especially Sucker Punch with those beautiful slow motion cuts and crisp clear CGI scenes. Do you remember Baby Doll fighting the massive stone samurai? That scene is beautiful…with NO STEADY CAM!! And yet, he filmed Man of Steel with nothing but steady cam.
Why? Why should I have to wait for the camera to focus before I can see what’s happening on screen? This might have been a brilliantly shot and executed movie but I will never know because I can’t SEE anything that’s going on! To me steady cam is a way for director’s to be lazy. Yes, you get free roam of the camera with steady cam. You can go places without spending hours setting up a single shot. But those hours spent setting up those shots is what makes them memorable. Do you remember the final fight scene in Highlander? It took them hours to set up that massive room and lay track for the camera movements. But I remember that scene with fondness. The dramatic strafe of the camera as two immortals fight to the death with katana and long broadsword is not just memorable, it’s iconic. Tell me one scene that’s memorable because of how it looks in Three Kings. Remember that movie? It was one of the first movies to be shot completely with steady cam, don’t feel bad it’s pretty forgettable. Man of Steel might be really beautiful and when the action slows down a bit you do get some of it. But the praise from the fan base comes from the action scenes. This is paltry praise being that the audience never gets to see any of it, just bits and pieces of buildings exploding and small colored bits of what might be bodies flying around, but you’ll never be able to tell.
Was this enough to fill me with the “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” I was talking about earlier? No, that was caused by a combination of two things. Now, remember I have watched the Christopher Reeve Superman movies multiple times all told probably over one or two hundred times. Over the past thirty years, five movies, four directors, and two actors in the title role there has been a tradition which I have come to appreciate as being one of a kind in cinema history.
The first of these unique traditions in any Superman movie is the music. The original Superman theme by John Williams has remained in every Superman movie. Unlike, the William Shatner Star Trek movies, that had a different take on the Jerry Goldsmith theme in every movie, the Superman theme has been unchanged through four different directors. This is unheard of. I’m sure you all remember the basterdized version of Danny Elfman’s Batman theme in Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever. Most directors, to put their stamp on a franchise, the first thing they do is change the theme.
This didn’t happen for Superman…until Man of Steel. Why? Hans Zimmer is a really good composer. There isn’t much I dislike by the man and much of his work is memorable, Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Batman Begins trilogy etc. So what happened here? This seemed like a lazy, half-assed attempt by a guy who may have been trying too hard to NOT do another Batman Begins theme. When I think of Superman I hear the John Williams theme. Why was that music not in this movie? Is Zimmer not up to working with that theme? He managed to put the William Tell Overture in the Lone Ranger, so why not the John Williams theme in Man of Steel. They didn’t even shoehorn it in during the ending credits. That would have been lazy but at least it would have been there. I didn’t mind that he didn’t use the Danny Elfman’s theme in Batman Begins because he replaced it with something that was equally dark, equally energetic, and it worked with the movie that Christopher Nolan made. Hans Zimmer’s effort for Man of Steel was lackluster at best, and at worst an insult to the Superman franchise.
The second tradition in any Superman movie is at the end, Superman flies off into the sunset. A simple little cheesy scene that I LOVE! It harkens back to old TV serials and westerns, where the hero always rides off into the sunset and Superman is no different in that respect. We hear the slow build to the John William’s theme, Superman smiling to the audience, and flying over the camera set against black space. Again, five movies, four directors, and almost thirty years of tradition have kept this scene in every Superman movie, why not here? Has the character changed so much since 2006? Is Zack Snyder’s movie so different from every other Superman movie that he couldn’t put that scene in? I like history and am a big fan of tradition when it means something and doesn’t hurt or offend anybody. It seems to me that Snyder didn’t put that scene in the film just for the sake of not having that scene in the film.
Having grown up watching the Richard Donner Superman I have just about every line delivered by Marlon Brando memorized.
Those are great lines. What about Terrance Stamp’s performance? His building desperation in that opening scene is clear as is his fear at regarding his ultimate destiny.
So, where was any of that in Man of Steel? Russell Crowe’s Jor-El was flat and emotionless. He said pretty much what Marlon Brando said thirty years ago but there was no emotional kick to any of his words or his delivery. I can’t remember a single quote from him off the top of my head, and that’s saying something. Michael Shannon’s Zod was equally forgettable and one note. He doesn’t hold a candle to Terrance Stamp’s performance. All he does is scream at people and his voice doesn’t carry any menace at all! All I hear is an actor who may have never projected his voice in his life ever, and his lungs and throat can’t get any real base or force behind it. I’m not intimidated when he yells. In fact I found myself silently laughing at him before he gets thrown into the Phantom Zone. Probably not the reaction Zack Snyder was hoping for.
And what was the deal with that sixteen year old airheaded bimbo doing wearing an Army Captain’s uniform? For those of you who don’t know, a Captain in the Army is an O-3 rank. So they are between 25-33 years old, a rough estimation. These are people who have been in their profession from anywhere from three to four years up to almost twelve or thirteen. They know what they are doing. They are Battery and Company Commanders. They are in charge of 90-200 people roughly, that they direct and command in combat. These are professionals. So why the HELL is the Captain in this film given screen time? She looks like she’s 16 and she sounds like she’s 12. “What’s terra forming?” or, “What are we going to do?” These are not the questions of a leader, she sounds like a little lost kid. And if that wasn’t bad enough they gave her one last little line which should be an insult to anybody wearing a uniform. “He’s hot! Hee hee!” That one line disgusted me beyond what I thought I could feel because of a movie. I would have walked out of the theater if the movie wasn’t pretty much already over at that point. Those scenes were a disgrace and should have been offensive for anybody, especially women, in the armed forces as it essentially infantilizes them. Bear in mind there are no other female military personnel of note to provide contrast.
But the movie wasn’t all bad. I really like Kevin Costner and I wish that he had gotten more screen time. I understood where he was coming from and why it was so hard for him to tell young Clark what he did and the reasons behind it. Diane Lane also gave a respectable performance as Ma Kent.
Ultimately, this didn’t feel like a Superman movie to me. It’s probably a good thing they went with the title change. I found myself not caring about what was happening on screen. I cared about Superman because I’ve always cared about Superman. But this film compressed any emotional punch it might have had, so much it might as well have not been in the movie at all. The first 15 minutes should have been closer to 30, and the final hour could have been cut by half or 45 minutes. For all the flack that Superman Returns got about how it was nothing but a rehash of the Richard Donner films, this movie was a rehash as well with none of the tradition or heart of any of the Superman movies that came before it.
When I left the theater I felt like I was saying goodbye to an old friend who I’d just finished watch being buried. I hope the next Man of Steel movie will be better, but right now my expectations are pretty low.
Scherrer Madness 